


Flaring is Caring

by CallieLeigh



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: M/M, Puzzleshipping, flareshipping, rivalshipping - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:53:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29257011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CallieLeigh/pseuds/CallieLeigh
Summary: If you’ve been craving some saucy Flareshipping, this story has it all. Puzzleshipping pining? Check. Forward!Yugi? Check. Heavy-handed chess symbolism? Check, and mate. (Ha.) Two-shot that takes place during the anime Season 5 KC Grand Prix. Written for u/Zabeth (Empress-elizabeth). Muh queen!
Relationships: Kaiba Seto/Mutou Yuugi, Kaiba Seto/Mutou Yuugi/Yami Yuugi, Mutou Yuugi/Yami Yuugi
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Zabeth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zabeth/gifts).



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_Compromised by how you say my name, I see those bright blue eyes, and I…_ [Animal - Riell]

Yugi wasn’t exactly _comfortable_ with all the attention he was getting at this tournament, but he wasn’t up to outright rejecting it either. Kaiba, obeying whatever businessman machinations toiled in his head, had decided that the King of Games was the centerpiece for his company’s latest marketing ploy to promote Kaibaland, a labor of love that had been in the making since he and Mokuba were small children in an orphanage. 

The bizarre detour that had put Yugi and his friends at odds with the artificial intelligence version of his _other_ brother still left an odd taste in his mouth, especially since he believed that he’d gotten a window into a side of Kaiba that the other man would rather he not see, the vulnerable, frightened child who had made a play to co-opt a monster and his ilk to get what he really wanted. He wondered if _that_ situation bore any resemblance to the bitter feud between the pharaoh and the thief; those two had certainly employed entities beyond simple shadow magic to propagate _their_ agendas, Marik’s intrusion notwithstanding. 

Back to Yugi’s discomfort, that he had been oh-so-diligently trying to distract himself from...Vivian’s and Rebecca’s hands, insistent, tugged at his jacket as he blushed and gulped, trying to placate them both and failing. He wished he could be just a little more assertive - his own spirit would be most helpful at a time like this and was dubiously silent. 

‘ _Yami_ …’ he prodded, face heating beyond physical reality as he shrunk back from their touch. 

“Yugi is _mine_ , because I saw him first!” screamed Rebecca, white knuckles at his elbow.

“Well _I_ am allowed to ask him out too, and if he correctly deduces that I’m prettier than _you_ , then he’ll make the obvious choice!” screeched Vivian, dual buns bobbing out of their safety pins as the scandalous slit of her dress threatened to reveal more than she’d intended. Or, perhaps, _exactly_ what she’d intended…

‘ _YAMI,_ ’ it was pleading, now, and Yugi was ashamed but couldn’t vocalize anything at all to the two women beside him. 

_Finally_ , he got a response: ‘ _Sorry Aibou, you’re on your own._ ’

‘ _YAMI AUGGH, I will throw the Puzzle off this balcony and be far less inclined to put it back together in the absence of a life-threatening fire._ ’

He felt the familiar chuckle as Yami’s eyes and mouth moulded into his own and he expertly dislodged them from their aggressors. 

“Ladies, if you’ll excuse me, I have more tournament preparation to attend to,” he said smoothly, stepping back and striding away from them to open-mouthed gapes. 

“I can help!” shouted Rebecca.

“I can help _better_!” shouted Vivian. 

Yami turned partway and held up an elegant hand. “I have no doubt that each of you would have expert advice. But collaboration of that nature would be against the rules of the tournament, and we wouldn’t want to aggravate our host or risk disqualification, right?” He smiled warmly at them, but didn’t wait for a reply before stepping into the elevator. Shadow magic may have been used to rush the doors to close, but Yugi pretended not to notice.

‘ _Thank you_ ,’ he said to the spirit.

“You threatened me,” the spirit said in return, good naturedly, as he winked at his own expression in the mirrored wall of the elevator compartment. His mouth settled into a thin line as he rubbed his neck and got used to a corporeal body again - it had been a minute since they’d switched. 

Yugi became self-conscious of the spirit’s words, then, since he was suddenly closed off from his emotions. ‘ _Um...I’m sorry. I would never actually take apart the Puzzle._ ’

Yami shook his head and maintained the mental communication as the numbered buttons counted up to the 20th floor. ‘ _I know you were being humorous. But you can’t count on me to extricate you from every uncomfortable situation._ ’

‘ _Can’t I, though? It’s always worked before._ ’

Yami stepped out of the doors as they opened and made haste to their hotel room, tapping the plastic keycard to the lock and waiting for the audible click before turning the handle and entering. Nobody could see their spirit forms, of course, but they still usually waited until they were alone to manifest that way in any case, especially if they were talking.

Yugi did so, then, transparent form floating above the bed as Yami sat on the edge of it to remove their shoes. He still waited a moment before speaking aloud. “I really am sorry. I panicked.”

Yami sighed. “I don’t see why, Aibou. I think you forget that I can sometimes feel what you do - your heart races for their attention in the same way it does for Anzu. I fear our...experimentation...and the short films you watch on your _internet_ are inadequate for the level of anxiety you’ve cultivated over the last few months. It’s going to affect our game.”

Yugi scowled. “I knew your objection would be about the tournament!”

“So, call one of them up here. Or, someone else - your phone catalog has an impressive collection by now.”

Yugi fell back against the pillow, though he was near weightless as a spirit and could barely feel the soft fabric push back against his shoulders. “Don’t pretend that’s not mostly thanks to _you_...besides, I would have no clue what to do with a girl.”

“I’m happy to drive if you like. I may not remember much about my time as pharaoh but I remember _that_.”

Yugi mulled that one over...there was no doubt regarding that particular topic. “You’ve certainly been helpful when it comes to men.”

“Men are easier, mechanically, but it’s the same principle either way.” He stretched out beside Yugi and looked like he was enjoying the lengthening and contraction of his muscles despite their mutual fatigue. 

Yugi reached out and cast a ghostly finger over what amounted to his own jaw - this situation was so strange, no matter how he looked at it. “I wish I could touch you,” he said sadly, eyes drooping and a pent-up sigh escaping his lips. Why was it so easy with the spirit when he was such a mess with the women?

He saw Yami’s throat bob as he swallowed an emotion he didn’t want Yugi to see. “I know, Aibou. We will have to make do with what we have access to.”

As if by divine intervention, a rhythmic tapping on the door interrupted their reverie. Yami looked back at Yugi and they switched seamlessly, the pharaoh phasing back into the Puzzle as Yugi stood, pulling the other sleeve of his jacket off and draping it on the chair by the office desk in the room as he went to answer, undoing the deadbolt and nudging the door open. 

Seto Kaiba stormed in before he was invited; Yugi surmised that he owned the hotel, but still. His white, silver-studded trench billowed, even when there was no wind, and Yugi briefly wondered what kind of engineering design the mogul must have commissioned to achieve that effect before his exasperation returned. “Kaiba...I am grateful for your hospitality, but I’m exhausted - whatever you’re here for, can it wait until tomorrow?”

Kaiba didn’t seem to have heard him, and was looking around with irritation. “What the hell is this? I told them to put you in a suite.” He was on the phone then, barking at someone below decks as he paced in front of the sliding glass door that led out onto a small balcony. Yugi rather appreciated the view, actually, (improved, admittedly, by the tall brunette) and had no complaints about the room, but Kaiba was furious. He decided to just let the man burn himself out, and flopped into a modest armchair in front of the TV, resting his eyes for a moment. 

After another breath, he felt a shake at his shoulder and twitched his eyes open. “You, wake up. Get your shit, we’ll go up to the penthouse until they adjust your accommodations.” 

“What?” asked Yugi sleepily.

“Get. Your. Shit.” Kaiba insisted, picking up Yugi’s messenger bag and slinging it over his shoulder. The gesture would have been kind if not for who was doing it and why. 

Yugi groaned and shoveled his socks and underwear from the dresser drawer back into his suitcase, mildly irritated that the spirit had unpacked it in the first place, and then zippered everything up before extending the handle to tilt the bag onto its wheels and slipping his shoes back on.

Kaiba led them to a different elevator, one that required keycard access on its own, and Yugi followed without complaint. He couldn’t help but wonder why a guy that claimed to hate him cared so much about the level of luxury he experienced, but attributed it to misplaced pride in things that had his name on them and not anything else the egotist may have found emotionally unsavory. Still...Yugi’s mind churned with _other reasons_ amid lecherous endorsements from the pharaoh, but fought not to jump to conclusions as he admired the way Kaiba’s blue diamond eyes glistened in the soft light of the elevator. His arms were folded and his eyebrows were angled, but the annoyance still looked fake, somehow. 

“Come on,” he muttered once the compartment had reached its destination, all the way at the top of the building of course. 

Yugi was unsurprised that it had opened directly into a lavish apartment. The grandeur was apparent by any metric, mansion or hovel, low-hanging chandeliers illuminated by flickering faux-candles and LED panels breathing an ambient glow onto the rest of the living area. An open bottle of white wine in a glacette stood neglected on the marble countertop of the moderate kitchen beside an elegant glass half-drunk, and the setting sun shone through floor-to-ceiling windows beyond. 

Yugi clicked the handle back into his bag and pretended like _he_ owned the place. “Now this is more like it!” he said, running his hand along the leather couch and unbuttoning the top few holes on his shirt. He made a show of flinging his shoes to the side and flopping into a seat, putting his feet up on an ottoman, and laced his fingers behind his head as he leaned back. “Honestly, Kaiba, I don’t know how you put up with such incompetence. Where are _you_ going to stay, though?”

Kaiba blanched for a moment, incredulous. “This is…” he started, about to admonish him. “Oh. You’re being a glib asshole.”

Yugi laughed joyously, rubbing his cheeks and putting his feet down to hunch over into his more comfortable, preferred couch position. “You started it,” he said. “I liked my room. I’d be an idiot not to appreciate _this_ , though.”

“You’re smarter than you look. Wine?”

He ignored the jibe. “‘Kay.”

Kaiba poured Yugi a fresh glass and handed it to him with a mock bow. Yugi thanked him and swirled the golden liquid, pursing his lips innocently before sipping it gently. It was, like everything else in Kaiba’s sphere of material influence, perfect. 

“Yugi, I’m not going to mince words. This guy Von Schroeder was weird when he and I were kids and has an extra creepy interest in _you_ at this tournament. I was hoping your idiot friend Jounouchi would have a shot but…”

“Hey! Katsuya is a great duelist. You’ve even said so yourself.”

“ _But,_ since he got his ass kicked, the pink-haired maniac has gone full-on stalker, and…”

Yugi had to pause his brain for a moment. “Hold on Kaiba, you’re doing...what? Protecting me?”

“Uh, you’re kind of the centerpiece here Yugi Mutou, so obviously it’s in my best interest to protect you.”

Yugi blinked, wondering if he’d ever heard the CEO utter the word ‘uh’ before, since his usual countenance was one of practiced eloquence. He had a choice, then, to play along as the bashful damsel in fear for his life, or take a chance on what he thought was _really_ going on and call Kaiba’s bluff.

He chose the latter, naturally. “I’ll give you that he’s odd, Kaiba, but no odder than any of the girls you have playing.”

“Yeah, I thought about calling for a mop-up on arena four, with how enthralled _they’ve_ been with you.”

“You’re mistaken, not with _me_.” Yugi felt a pulse of protest from his Other, but he didn’t interfere more significantly. “Vivian seemed rather taken with _you_ as well, though, at your ritzy party before the tournament started.” 

“She’s an opportunist.”

“A quality I would expect someone like you to admire.”

Kaiba stopped talking, looking puzzled. He settled in on the couch across from Yugi and enhanced the unusually confused expression on his face as he nursed his own now-warm glass, eyebrows furrowing more significantly with each passing moment as if considering why he was so deeply opposed to beautiful, rich young women being interested in him.

Yami’s insistence grew more pronounced then, and Yugi was aware of precisely what _that_ entailed, but he reminded the pharaoh silently that there was no subtlety in _his_ approach at all, in the dueling arena or with his dates, and that it would not lend itself well now to the exquisitely-draped Seto Kaiba. He was a frozen wild animal at present, timid, easily scared away at the slightest hint of something untoward, and Yugi was committed to treading carefully despite deciding to direct the evening in his favor.

“Seto, I didn’t mean anything by it,” Yugi said, noting that Kaiba had jumped a little at the informal use of his first name. “I’m grateful that our unusual skills with this game have been useful for...world-saving, I guess, but at least that stuff has tangible and obvious utility. You’ll have to give me some tips on handling fame. You have the showmanship for it and I kind of,” Yugi tugged at his collar and stuck his tongue out dramatically, “choke.”

Both he and the spirit watched carefully as Kaiba’s eyes followed his tongue back into his mouth, Yami tittering with glee and Yugi telling him to _please_ extend his patience of three- to five-thousand years another few gods-damned minutes.

His phone buzzed on the glass coffee table, then, and Kaiba pounded the last of his wine and muttered about finding something stronger as he stood to make his way back to the kitchen. Yugi passively heard rustling in the freezer as he acknowledged the text with a curt reply and then changed the mode to ‘do not disturb’, which would automatically disable when his alarm triggered at seven. His eyes flicked up briefly to admire Kaiba’s ass where it was hinged over his long legs before he changed it to ‘until 10am’, and also turned off the alarm. 

Kaiba returned with a frozen bottle of tequila and two more glasses, clinking them unceremoniously on the table and raising an eyebrow. “Friendship squad bugging you?” he asked.

Yugi nodded without acknowledging the attempt at a slight. “Anzu and Honda just stopped by my room...er, former room, only to see maid service sanitizing everything. We were supposed to play a board game tonight, since none of us are in the tournament.”

“You’re in it! At the end! That’s the whole point!”

“You and I both know that I’ll spank whoever you whittle out from this, stalker or no.”

Kaiba huffed and poured two shots before knocking his back without toasting. Yugi sipped, because he didn’t like shots. “Anyway,” Yugi continued, tonguing the liquor behind his teeth and humming with appreciation, “they thought I had been kidnapped.”

“And I take it you set them straight.”

“Well. I told them I had.”

“Had…?”

“Been kidnapped.”

“Why on earth would you do that!?”

“Well, haven’t I? Are you going to let me out that door to wander around your hotel?”

“Absolutely not, there are madmen loose.”

“Kid--napped,” he articulated, smacking his lips on the ‘p’ sound, crossing his legs, and leaning his elbows on his knee as he cradled his chin in one hand, drink in the other. Unlike Rebecca or Anzu, with whom he could barely maintain eye contact for more than a few seconds, Kaiba was easy to stare down, the corners of his lips twitching as he stared back at Yugi as if their every interaction was a contest. Like every other contest he challenged Yugi to, though, he lost the one of the staring variety as well, rolling his eyes up to the ceiling and blinking in frustration.

Yugi averted his gaze to the glass chess set on a shelf not far away with some other aesthetically-pleasing games. “You know, Seto,” he said, twirling a blonde bang and pulling out his most innocent eyes (though it had been harder and harder to pull off under the spirit’s influence), “you don’t need an excuse to invite me up to your room. I would have come anyway.”

‘ _Phrasing,_ ’ said Yami.

Kaiba’s eyes widened as his brain futilely searched for a clever comeback. The result was a constipated silence that Yugi wanted to laugh at with gusto, but he was determined to follow through with his plan. “I mean, I’ll duel you any time. All the cameras and press attention are always _your_ idea.”

Kaiba released a breath of...relief? Annoyance? _Yami_ , on the other hand, was _desperately_ irritated at the stall, cursing in a language Yugi didn’t understand and probing his brain with a combination of sexual frustration and begrudged admiration.

Kaiba swallowed another ounce and a half of tequila and slammed the glass back on the table. “If I wanted to _duel_ you, I would have invited you to an _arena_ ,” he said, gritting his teeth.

“Ah,” started Yugi, _so close_. He hadn’t moved his eyes from the chessboard. “How about that, then? You play?”

“ _Chess_ , Yugi? You’re asking if I play _chess_?”

“Uh, I mean it’s definitely been a minute for me, but that’s what it is, right?”

Kaiba got that gleam in his eye, the one that got both Yugi and the pharaoh going to the point of needing an icy shower or some serious personal hand-in-pants time on so many occasions. He let Yami’s shiver consume him, but he wasn’t done teasing yet.

Kaiba continued, “You mean the game I mastered so that I could trounce a rich douchebag and manipulate him into adopting my brother and I out of that horrific orphanage? You want to challenge me to _that_ game?”

“Sure!” said Yugi, smiling brightly. 

His opponent's eyes darkened. “Your _luck magic_ won’t help you here,” he said, snatching the game from its resting place, blowing off a little dust, and twisting the board. “Black or white?”

“Black,” said Yugi. “White goes first, which you should since you’re the host.” He _also_ noticed that the white pieces were blue-eyes white dragon-themed, and the blacks were red-eyes. Jou’s patron would be able to help him after all!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rating for this chapter, obviously.

Yugi was quite good at chess, despite his earlier professed hustlers’ naivete, and the game was ultimately just as close as they were in their Duel Monsters matches. Yugi also had the same edge, the pharaoh in his ear with moves that made their strategy more heterogeneous and unpredictable. Yugi had taught him this game as he had with so many others, but the man had made it his own, with as much right to the title King of Games as King of Egypt. Unlike during their normal duels, though, Yugi stayed in control, softer features and delicate laugh striving to throw off Kaiba _just a little_ so that he’d make a mistake, but he was even bolder and more confident with chess than he was with cards, and in a game of pure strategy Yugi didn’t have any dice rolls he could count on. It was…

“Check,” said Kaiba. 

' _Shit_ ,’ thought Yugi, not at Yami in particular, though he replied anyway. 

‘ _That’s the second time, Aibou. He’s crowding our remaining bishop._ ’

‘ _I have to get our pawn to the end of the board, Yami. We need that queen back if we’re going to win._ ’

“Are you going to move?”

“Calm your tits Kaiba, this isn’t speed chess,” Yami’s voice cut through Yugi’s control, and Yugi slapped a hand over his mouth, embarrassed. 

“I was wondering when your split personality would make an appearance. If I didn’t believe you were mentally ill I’d think it was unfair that all our games were two-on-one.”

Kaiba was better at telling the difference between them than the rest of their friends, sometimes, despite not being willing to acknowledge that they were two different people. You’d think the voice and height changes would be a giveaway, but the magic needed time to work and the short transitions weren’t enough for anything physical beyond vocal chords to manifest. 

“What I wouldn’t give for the Millennium Necklace right now,” muttered Yugi, surveying the board and trying to play out more than a few moves but losing focus. 

“That Necklace may as well have been a fortune cookie for all the good it did Ishizu Ishtar in our Battle City duel.”

He felt Yami flush, as much as a disembodied spirit could, anyway. ‘ _Oh right, that. I can work with that,_ ’ Yugi thought in reply. “Well, it was pretty accurate up to that point.”

“If it was a gambler’s card I wouldn’t even trust it in Jounouchi’s deck.”

Yugi snorted and finally chose a piece to block the check. “You know, watching you up on that stage giving the finger to destiny is still without a doubt the sexiest move I’ve ever seen in a game,” he said casually. Kaiba sputtered and nearly dropped his knight, but managed to complete his counter. Now _that_ was the desired effect, so Yugi kept talking and made another move. “I mean, what kind of man would eschew a _god_ for an old fallback? Oh, by the way, check.”

Kaiba didn’t look perturbed. “One who flips off destiny, I suppose.” He tapped a finger lightly on his white dragon queen. “Besides, she seems to always be looking out for me. The gods belong to _him_.” 

Yami’s eyes and smirk edged into Yugi’s face. Kaiba moved her to threaten again. “Check.”

‘ _Yugi, we can still win, but I am getting frustrated._ ’

‘ _Noted._ ’ Yugi stood up and stretched. 

“Conceding already?” asked Kaiba. 

“You wish,” Yugi teased. “I was going to get another drink.” He started walking and Kaiba’s head turned to follow; Yugi stopped behind the couch where Kaiba was sitting and leaned over his shoulder so that his breath tickled the taller man’s ear. “Or should I stay?” He dropped his voice lower, so that it almost sounded like Yami’s. “You going to take my king, Seto?”

“That’s not even…! How chess works!” Kaiba’s pulse had quickened suddenly, fluttering in the vein on his neck. 

Yugi ignored him. “Because you can, you know. And I think he’d quite enjoy himself.”

‘ _A certainty ,_ ’ came Yami’s confident assent in his head. 

Kaiba had turned away with a furious blush and a scowl, which was fine by Yugi because he’d exposed his long, pale neck to an assault, which both he and the spirit were happy to perpetrate. Yami raked his fingers through the frock of brown hair beginning at the base of Kaiba’s skull, hand resting over his ear to gently hold him in that position, and then Yugi pressed his lips to the unshielded skin, tongue laving over the pulse point. 

Kaiba was _definitely_ too dignified for the moan that emerged from his throat, and Yugi delighted in the sinful vibration that echoed through his lips as he traveled lower. Tension oozed out of the muscle as Yami moved his hand from head to shoulder, where he worked his thumb into Kaiba’s traps.

Yugi took advantage of the hand he did have control over to inch under Kaiba’s shirt from the collar, brushing over his nipple softly to a hitch of breath and the slightest arch of torso. Arousal fired on impulse from both consciousnesses directly to their groin, and Yugi wished he had a warm body to grind on instead of the back of Kaiba’s couch (full-grain leather though it was).

‘ _There’s an easy remedy for that,_ ’ purred the spirit, nudging Yugi to relinquish control and growing quite impatient at his slow-burn approach.

‘ _I need him to say it first…_ ’

‘ _He thinks we are one person anyway!_ ’ 

‘ _He’s being stubborn about it, he’s not stupid ._ ’ 

‘ _Good thing we find intelligence sexy. Get on him then, he’ll be more pliable if you’re weighing him down._ ’

‘ _Alright, alright._ ’

Yugi marveled for a moment at the maintenance of their split control; it was usually difficult to divide up motor functions and they found it less cumbersome to just go all one side or the other. He had to push his other away, though, to be able to use his hands to brace on the back of the couch and push upward to swing his legs over the top and settle in next to Kaiba, whose eyes widened at the sudden bodily proximity. 

“This is the quietest you’ve ever been, I think,” Yugi said, letting his cheeks heat as he straddled the other man on the couch, who looked like a deer in headlights and still said nothing. Yugi leaned in closer until his lips were centimeters away and he could see the flecks of silver in Kaiba’s otherwise cobalt blue eyes. He wasn’t breathing, now, and his arms were splayed awkwardly at his sides with his hands balled into fists. “Hey. You need to breathe, and also tell me what you want, because I’m going to interpret silence as ‘go away’.” He blinked prettily and trailed a finger down the left side of Kaiba’s jaw like he wished he could have done to Yami earlier. He felt a pang of sadness and desire that didn’t belong to him. 

After another few moments of frozen stillness, Yugi sighed and cast his eyes downward. “Alright, I’ll call up Anzu and see if I can crash with her so you don’t worry. Okay?” He made to dislodge himself when a firm hand shot out from where it was glued to the couch previously and wrapped around his waist, pinning him. The movement caused Yugi to lose his balance and fall forward, where his lips were captured in a searing kiss that swallowed whatever other words he’d been about to say. The contact was lava-hot and Yugi leaned into it greedily as Kaiba’s tongue probed deeply into his mouth, fire racing through his veins and stoking his waning erection back to full-mast in an instant. _This_ time, he rolled forcefully into the substantial bulge that was growing beneath him, and Yami’s telepathic growl alone would have sent him over the edge on another occasion, but he had more work to do.

“ _Yes..._ ok, I’m feeling yes, but before you get carried away…”

“Obviously, _obviously_ yes, idiot. I’m being too quiet? You talk too fucking _much_.”

“You can submit your feedback to our complaint department in the morning, but _before_ that I need to make sure you understand that I’m one _body_ but two minds, and the other me can see and feel _everything_ that I do. That okay with you?” Kaiba arched an eyebrow. “...and I don’t want to hear, Seto, about your internet sleuthing on dissociative identity disorder; for all practical purposes there are two people in your lap right now.”

“Can’t you...put him away? For a few hours?”

 _A few hours, fuck…_ “You mean like what the thief does with Ryou? I don’t think so, as in, I choose not to. Package deal.” He emphasized ‘package’ with a well-timed hand squeeze on Kaiba’s crotch and tapped the Puzzle with his other hand.

“Who have I been dueling?”

Yugi considered the question. That was different...he didn’t have control of the body but their collaboration was so seamless that sometimes it almost felt like a single mind...with one notable green-lined, Atlantian exception. Guilt pervaded their link and Yugi regretted thinking about it. “Both...either,” he answered, “mostly him, I guess. Me if he’s decided he wants to kill you.”

Kaiba let out a full, hearty laugh, throwing his head back and letting it shake through him thoroughly. Yugi smiled in response and wrapped his arms around Kaiba’s shoulders. 

“I’m fine with it,” said Kaiba, “or, it’s hot. Whatever. Blow me.”

“Roger that,” said Yugi, crawling off the couch onto his knees and reaching for the silver-toned KC belt buckle. 

“I, uh…” There was that _uh_ again. “Yeah, go for it. Awesome.”

Yugi agreed, expressing his agreement by pulling Kaiba’s dick out of his underwear after he’d managed the zipper of his pants and giving it a flat-tongued lick from base to tip, to a _very_ appreciative groan and reflexive buck. He teased Kaiba’s balls and shaft lightly with his fingers, circling his tongue along the tip as he went.

‘ _Gods, we had better top,’_ grunted Yami through their link, appreciating the length and girth but agonizing over future activities.

He worked his tongue and hand until he detected the first salty hint of precum at the tip, then swallowed him whole until he gagged. Kaiba hissed and grabbed the back of his head, fingers entwined in Yugi’s carefully-constructed maroon spikes as if to ruin them, and Yugi continued with hand and mouth and lips gradually building in response to moans and thrusts until Kaiba arched deliciously, coming in bursts of hot liquid down Yugi’s throat. He relished in it and contracted his throat to swallow every drop, emitting an unconcealed moan of pleasure because he _loved_ giving blowjobs and Seto was a treasure to be worshipped.

This did leave him rock-hard and straining in his own pants, however, and while Yami appreciated Yugi’s generosity, he appreciated being on the receiving end more, of course, and wrenched control to pull off the rest of Seto’s clothes and command the king’s equivalent of, “ _Bedroom, now,_ ” to his compliant partners.

Seto was as strong as he was tall, scooping them up into an intimate embrace and leaving his signature jacket behind - Yami would quite like for him to be wearing that and _only_ that when he took him from behind, but didn’t complain at present as their carrier swooped down a hallway and entered a dimly-lit bedchamber. 

As they fell back onto the mattress, Yami was entranced by the lips that trailed down his torso and the hands that peeled Yugi’s clothes away until he was naked and panting.

“Let me take care of you, now,” Seto breathed seductively, tongue spiraling at a nipple and hand cupping his ass. His other hand raked Yami’s hair, index and middle finger pinching a gold bolt up through its tip, and he moved his mouth up to Yami’s face, sucking on his tongue and then biting harshly just below his jaw to a pained yelp. 

Kaiba gripped the hair more harshly and tugged Yami’s face close to his, eyes connected and heavy with lust. “No fair. The other one did the work, give him back.”

“Fuck you,” said Yami.

“That’s the idea,” chuckled Kaiba, grabbing Yami’s cock and stroking languidly until the other was putty in his hands. 

“ _Seto_ ,” Yugi groaned as he came back into focus, squirming and thoroughly enjoying himself, primary control or not. 

“How do you like it?” asked Kaiba, long fingers pulling open an end table drawer and withdrawing a bottle of very specific, expensive lube. 

“Oh, I’m happy either way,” said Yugi, giggling. 

‘ _I AM NOT,_ ’ protested the spirit, coating Yugi’s fingers in lube and curling them around Kaiba’s ass to probe him. The height difference was more apparent in this position, Kaiba all limbs and angles and Yugi outstretched straight on his back beneath him.

To his credit, Kaiba moaned and pushed back at the intrusion.

‘ _See? He loves it_ ,’ said Yami.

‘ _I’d like to alternate,_ ’ said Yugi.

‘ _Fine. I reserve the right to hover above you and watch this pornography as a spirit, though_.’

‘ _Why haven’t we thought of that before!? Yami...watch and tell me later what you see._ ’ 

Yugi grabbed Kaiba’s hand and coated it in lube, pressing his longest fingers into his own ass until they were both finger fucking each other and scissoring delightfully as prep. When Kaiba hooked his middle finger to drag against Yugi’s prostate though, Yugi forgot his duties completely and screamed, digging the fingernails of his other hand into Kaiba’s undulating back. 

“Me first, then,” said Kaiba, lifting his hips to pour more lube onto his cock, which he pressed against Yugi’s entrance without pause, and Yugi _begged_. 

“ _Please_ Seto, fuck me…”

The other man didn’t need any other instruction, pressing forward and letting the warm muscles of Yugi’s ass consume him, stopping all movement for a moment as sweat trickled from his brow and Yugi’s body adjusted. It hurt...but also didn’t...the feeling was confusing with one party attempting to enjoy himself and the other protesting. 

‘ _Did you_ see _that thing? I told you it would hurt._ ’

Yugi grabbed Seto’s hip and pressed him the rest of the way in to be contrary, pain be damned. ‘ _I agree with him, spirit. Fuck you!_ ’

‘ _Ohh, ornery tonight Aibou._ ’ Yami had spirit-ed above him and was leering down at Seto thrusting and Yugi whimpering.

Seto’s eyes flitted upward, then, obviously looking into the glowing purple eyes of a spirit he wasn’t supposed to be able to see. “You’re a voyeur, then?” Yugi screamed in delight below him with each thrust.

Yami ignored the fact that he was supposed to be invisible. “My partner is being greedy.”

“Mmm, another ‘quality I admire’, Pharaoh,” Seto said, echoing Yugi’s words from earlier than evening. 

Yugi was hard and throbbing between them, and Yami chanced a physical manifestation to wrap a fist around his length, stroking as Seto fucked him. _That_ seemed to shut everyone up, as the crest of each stroke spiked pleasure chemicals directly into everyone’s brains, and just as things were building Seto paused to pull out and kissed Yugi with a passion he hadn’t even seen in the dueling arena. 

He gave Yugi a few cursory strokes, unnecessary because of how hard he was, and then doused him with lube before centering Yugi’s dick at his own hole, sinking down with a delicious groan. 

Yugi’s surprise even surprised the _spirit_ , not expecting such an abrupt transition, though Yami was much more amenable to this configuration.

‘ _Aibou…_ ’ he pleaded.

‘ _Okay, fine, tell him though…_ ’ Yugi communicated fretfully as he leaned back into pure experience, fine motor control completely forfeit. 

Yami dug his fingers into Kaiba’s hips, intending to bruise, forcing the ride as rough as he wanted, and Kaiba was more than happy to indulge him.

“Welcome back,” groaned Kaiba, swirling his hips and rendering his partner uncharacteristically speechless. “You two are fucking ridiculous.”

“Hnng,” articulated Yami, gritting his teeth and leaning his neck back into the pillow behind him. 

Kaiba was clearly no stranger to riding dick, but Yami was greedier than his partner despite the admonishment, and flipped them with unnatural strength so that he was thrusting into the tall brunette from above, sweat dripping from his brow and Yugi blushing in the background.

‘ _I_ _f you have anything else you want to do, Aibou, now is the time,_ ’ Yami said with difficulty, feeling orgasm encroach with rapidity. 

‘ _Not cool,_ I _want to fuck him!_ ’ Yugi screamed, merging into their body and pulling Yami’s hair back, hands wandering along his own body as one set of hands held Kaiba down by the wrists and the other twisted Yami’s hands behind his back, bruising his own neck with teeth in the heat of passion, and he _knew_ none of the physicality made sense, but it didn’t matter, because Kaiba was ejaculating again onto his stomach and his own orgasm wracked through his body and into Kaiba’s ass as he thrust with abandon, groaning, his voice and OR the spirit’s...inconsequential....

Fluid and heat surrounded them as they came down, Kaiba’s chest heaving in the dark until his heart rate stabilized and Yugi collapsed beside him. Kaiba had the good sense to have a duvet folded at the foot of the bed, and un-accordioned it to wrap around them, willing them to ignore the mess and deal with it later. 

Kaiba pulled his lips to the crown of Yugi’s head as a show of endearment, and Yugi was thrilled by it. “I guess I don’t hate you as much as I thought I did,” he said, to a happy laugh from his lover. 

“The closest to a compliment I could hope for, I suppose,” Yugi said, sighing and tucking his face into Kaiba’s well-defined pectorals, wondering when the man had time to bench press. 

They drifted off to sleep before the spirit did, and he watched them for longer than was appropriate before fading back into the Puzzle. 

In the morning, Seto woke naturally as he always did, just before sunrise, and felt unfamiliar warmth beside him. He wrapped an arm around the well-muscled torso in his bed and said his good mornings, before realizing something. 

“Oh. It’s you.”

“Good morning Kai... _Seto_.”

“Where…”

“Yugi is still asleep...not a morning person, I’m afraid. I’m responsible for now.”

“Ah. All of your problems are a little confusing for me.”

“You’re entrenched in them, whether you want to be or not. Ishizu is not a liar.”

Kaiba reached out an index finger and poked a blonde lightning bolt on his hair, followed by a subtle caress along the contour of his kohl-lined eye. Yami grabbed his palm and leaned his cheek into it, kissing and humming appreciatively. 

“So you and Yugi…” Kaiba began, not sure of the question he wanted to ask. 

“We try, but…”

“Don’t you have that?” Kaiba asked, gesturing toward the Millennium Puzzle that Yugi had discarded, but nearby, within a few feet on the side of one of the night stands. 

“The soul room?” said Yami, a contemplative expression infiltrating his regal features. “That place is like a dream world. You remember the things you touch and experience in a dream, right? But it fades to oblivion once you wake up. That’s how it is for me and Yugi in our soul rooms.”

“I can’t imagine…”

“I want him to be _happy_ , Kaiba. I can’t give him that, from a fragment of myself manifested in an ancient artifact, no matter now diligently he tries to convince me otherwise. _This_ ,” he grabbed Seto’s face, pulling them close. “This is real. He deserves better than me. Please don’t tell him I said so, he’s too good for this world.”

Yami smiled softly then, between kisses on Kaiba’s face. “I'm glad I didn’t kill you on the island during Duelist Kingdom.”

“Only because Yugi stopped you.”

“Well, yes...but I’m _glad_ he did.”

  
  


_Harmless games went to my head, now I want you breathing down my neck._ [Animal - Riell]

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I make no money and solicit no money off of this debauchery. Also, in CallieLeigh's headcanon for all stories, literally every character is in University.


End file.
